Following almost relentless cold, damp weather, it’s been announced that England suffered its second worst harvest on record in 2024. New research has shown that heavy rain last winter had a knock-on effect on the production of key crops, including wheat and oats. Key cereal crops – defined as wheat and oats as well as winter and spring barley and oilseed rape, dropped to the lowest volume in some 40 years, outside of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. It’s estimated that farmers could lose £600m (€716m) on those crops alone. England’s rapidly developing wine industry was hit particularly hard. Pr…